Make Streets More Friendly – Take the Survey

Not potholes. C’mon people. How did that ever become a mayoral campaign issue (circa 2010) in the first place? But that's for another day.

The issue for the Best Little City in America is that we are car-centric. You might say at this point, “Mr. Lalley, streets are for cars.”

Yes, they are, but streets are more than just high-speed roadways. It’s the way we connect our neighborhoods, how we move from place to place. That’s true whether you’re rolling the Tahoe, riding a bike or strolling over the neighbors to find out why your kids haven’t come yet.

In short, streets are for everything.

And, going forward, we can't keep widening the major thoroughfares when they get full -- see Minnesota Avenue.

It’s true -- I’m a bike commuter. I see these things from a different perspective. I ride all over this city from the affluent to the working class neighborhoods. You can track time and development trends by what the streets look like, how they flow and feel.

As transportation planner, Sam Trebilcock, put it in an email to members of the city's Bike Committee: "The survey is designed to gain input from citizens on the type of streets that they would like to use when driving a car, riding a bicycle, walking, or living adjacent to a street. The survey has 19 visual questions and takes about 10 minutes to complete."